That is just not the assessment. People are crowing about the 2 x channel music playback of the AVM90. I don't get how the Marantz AV10 is just as good for 2 x channel.
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Marantz AV10 AV Processor Review
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That's right, the AV10 uses 2 channel dac ics, so it needs 10 pieces to cover the 15 channels plus 4 subwoofer channels.
The AVM90 uses 8 channel ics, so it only needs 2 for the 15 channels, and probably uses a couple of 2 channel dac ics for the 4 sub channels.
The AVM90 uses the higher end ics but the slightly lower end ones in the AV10 are also the reference class of the ESS Sabre type that has 120 dB SINAD, 2 dB lower than the AVM90's. At such high performance level, the dac ics are not going to be the weak link.
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If I had heard a difference (for the better), I would have picked up the 90, but I didn't. Many people do, so they are happy with the 90s. It is subjective anyway, I am happy with the 70, but I understand people are very happy with their 90, or the AV10. Good to have choices, to satisfy people's different needs.
The sum of parts and HDAM and components makes me think the AV10 is hands down better than the JBL Synesis and Lyngdorf. I don't understand why this is not considered a 2 x channel hybrid with a few inches at the back of the processor that make it impossible to seat in a cabinet.
Lucky my Chinese's cleaners know how to saw more wood out the back of my credenza if I could ever buy a AV10 @ 4,750.00 USD?
As predicted Masimo is divesting of Sound United... aka Spinning them off LOL.
It is just a matter of time before Joe gets that big check for 2 x what he paid to buy Sound United. The merger never had to succeed. It was always window dressing for making a case Masimo was a consumer electronics company bullied by AAPL. That canard is up so the spin off can proceed. For about the same price they paid they will sell to the new partner.
www.strata-gee.com
It is just a matter of time before Joe gets that big check for 2 x what he paid to buy Sound United. The merger never had to succeed. It was always window dressing for making a case Masimo was a consumer electronics company bullied by AAPL. That canard is up so the spin off can proceed. For about the same price they paid they will sell to the new partner.
Masimo Board 'Authorizes' Management to Prepare Spin-Off of Consumer Unit
Late Friday, Masimo announced that the Board of Directors has "authorized" company management to plan a spin-off of its Consumer Business.
www.strata-gee.com
Interesting - I do wonder whether Masimo will hold onto some of the patents / licences SU holds that were the original pretext for the purchase?As predicted Masimo is divesting of Sound United... aka Spinning them off LOL.
It is just a matter of time before Joe gets that big check for 2 x what he paid to buy Sound United. The merger never had to succeed. It was always window dressing for making a case Masimo was a consumer electronics company bullied by AAPL. That canard is up so the spin off can proceed. For about the same price they paid they will sell to the new partner.
Masimo Board 'Authorizes' Management to Prepare Spin-Off of Consumer Unit
Late Friday, Masimo announced that the Board of Directors has "authorized" company management to plan a spin-off of its Consumer Business.
ban25
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FWIW, I don't think the patents were worth much of anything to Masimo. I think Joe Kiani is honestly a fan of Marantz and felt that Masimo needed to move into a new line of business in the event that the world's most valuable company (at the time), Apple, literally ate their lunch and put them out of business. That didn't happen, fortunately, but MASI shareholders also thought the acquisition was a bad move. Hence the spin-off that still leaves Kiani in charge of both firms -- the one he founded and the one he's passionate about.
Isn't Audyssey One the easiest, cheapest and the best in terms of full bandwidth all speaker room correction? Isn't room correction a function of the quality of the DSP resample and EQ in a processor / receiver. Isn't the down sampling down to 24 bit / 48 Khz why we like to turn off the EQ and room correction on the lesser quality DSP platforms?
I think it's obvious from the review that sound is more of the focus for Anthem vs some features and video processing on the Marantz and it shows up in the sound quality. For me I listened to both and it's not really a comparison when it comes to what your ears are hearing, the Anthem just does a better job on sound, I like to focus on sound quality what I spend money to hear something great.
Newman
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The real question, assuming your above-mentioned comparison was level-matched, is whether you would be able to replicate that preference in a controlled listening test.
If yes, then the sound waves actually are detectably different to you, and the difference has a clear preference in favour of the Anthem to you.
If not, then you are suffering confirmation bias, and you don't actually have a preference for the sound waves of one over the other. Your bias could be due to many influences, but the obvious bias would be knowing that the Anthem has put special emphasis on sound quality...at least in the spec sheet and marketing blurb.
In general, for DAC/preamp combos with good specs and flat frequency responses, it would not be expected for you to even distinguish them in a controlled listening test, never mind have a clear preference.
In your comparison, you would also want to account for the AV10's DAC Filter 1 vs Filter 2. The default, Filter 1, has a slow rolloff and might, barely conceivably, have a just slightly detectable rolloff at the absolute top of the audible treble range. See post #1 in this thread. But even if that were the case for you, one only has to switch to Filter 2 for it to disappear.
Comparing the performance level of the AV10 with the limits of human hearing, it is clear that the AV10 can deliver absolute transparency in audibility. You can't get (audibly) better than that, you can only get worse.
That is why the odds are strongly in favour of your result being confirmation bias. Which is unrelated to the sound waves themselves.
cheers
Weird. What did you listen to?I think it's obvious from the review that sound is more of the focus for Anthem vs some features and video processing on the Marantz and it shows up in the sound quality. For me I listened to both and it's not really a comparison when it comes to what your ears are hearing, the Anthem just does a better job on sound, I like to focus on sound quality what I spend money to hear something great.
Same amplifier and speakers and room. Just a switch out same XLR cables? Ugh thats right the Anthem sucks with XLR.
With that being said there is some theory that the DACs are superior for the front Left and Right on the AVM90. But pound for pound the AV10 parts and electronics and power supply just seem superior.
With that being said I will take either for $4,999.95
Even more amazing is that some people pay MSRP.
The AV 10 SINAD is limited by the 8-channel CMOS volume control IC's used in the AV 10 and most D/M gear. The volume control IC's are excellent products, but they are the limiting factor.
We will see, the buffer circuits in the Cinema 30 appear to use the same HDAM circuits, two per buffer circuit, as the SR8015 which measured quite a bit worse than 107dB SINAD on ASR. The remainder of the Cinema 30 output buffer circuitry appears similar to the SR8015. An HDAM, what appears to be a common emitter circuit for voltage gain, and then another HDAM.
As usual, the X6800H drives an output directly from an opamp in the volume control IC without an output buffer adding noise and distortion.
The AV 10 has two extra transistors per HDAM that add cascodes to the 2nd pair of transistors in the HDAM circuit. The AV 10 also has four-layer circuit boards, that add separate ground planes for the output buffers, MELF resistors that should change value less with temperature, and 12VDC power rails vs. about 7VDC for the Cinema 30.
It will be interesting to learn how the two new AVR's measure.
The power amplifier boards and circuits in the units have changed from previous D/M units. Heat dissipation should be much more even across the heat sink, we'll see about noise and distortion from the revised output circuitry.
With big enough S/N I prefer digital volume control. Non of the problems you have with analog volume control and when artefacts are pushed below hearing threshhold ... I don't hear them!
One of the big benefits of crazy high S/N systems. (for me a hypex DSP module with digital input does the trick. So not even that expensive and dynamic range in the 115dB area)
Did they even do a proper listening test in the video? I scrolled through and they just talk about tech data and software?I think it's obvious from the review that sound is more of the focus for Anthem vs some features and video processing on the Marantz and it shows up in the sound quality. For me I listened to both and it's not really a comparison when it comes to what your ears are hearing, the Anthem just does a better job on sound, I like to focus on sound quality what I spend money to hear something great.
The main Reason to buy the Marantz is - when it get's Dirac ART! It's the cheapest way to get a propper ART Preamp.
Everything else ... is nice to have. And as long as ART is not running properly it's all just theory.
Theo did listen to both but not an AB comparison let alone DBT. In this video, I think you are right that they just talked about tech data and software/feature, very neutral and objective oriented, a rarity for YT reviews of AV devices.
Agreed, even without ART, the AV10 has more flexibility/options such as directional subwoofer output bass, XLR inputs and has additional features such as Auro3D as well as DTS:XPro.
As far as Anthem owner's claim of better sound quality, that's totally subjective, none has reportedly heard significant difference in DBT that I know of, but Gene has the AV10 in his house, Theo has the AVM90.
My take is, based on having watched Theo's other video on the Anthem, I believe he thinks the AVM90 sounds better (to him anyway) whereas Gene, as usual, is more of an objectivist who likely will say both sound the same in pure direct mode but that' just my educated guess. He clearly prefer the AV10 overall, obviously as he could have owned the AVM90 too but he seemed to have chosen the AV10, but again, just my educated guess.
